Today’s choice of products has never been so great. Tesco stocks 91 different shampoos, 93 varieties of tooth paste and 115 types of household cleaner according to The Economist. This should be great - conventional economic theory points to competition and choice as two important drivers for welfare and profits.
Yet too much choice can have considerable negative effects. In 2004, Barry Schwartz wrote ‘The Paradox of Choice-Why More is Less’ arguing that wide choice causes anxiety for the consumer. Who wouldn’t be anxious when Starbucks offer 87,000 different drink combinations?
Schwartz explains his argument in a fun and entertaining way in this TED talk. 7mins 45s to 10mins outline the problems consumers have with choice.
Too much choice can create paralysis on what to choose and make it easy to compare your option to what you could have had. Increasing expectations for your purchases is another result from wider choice. Significantly, as Schwartz warns, people are less likely to buy a product when faced with too many choices. Proctor & Gamble narrowed its Head and Shoulders range from 26 to 15, sales increased by 10%.
The Paradox of Choice probably doesn’t hold for every purchasing decision and wide choice can be attractive up to a point. But when choices become complex it is likely to not only be bad for buyers, but for sellers as well.
Paul Barnes
Media Analyst
The Paradox of Choice probably doesn’t hold for every purchasing decision and wide choice can be attractive up to a point. But when choices become complex it is likely to not only be bad for buyers, but for sellers as well.
Paul Barnes
Media Analyst
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